United Power
Brighton, Colorado
As the “Utility of Choice”, United Power – a Touchstone® electric utility cooperative – required a new top-quality headquarters to continue its spirit of service excellence in providing electricity to the growing five-county community. Heery worked with United Power to develop a design to meet these needs.
Design components include two-story offices, one-story high-bay warehouse, vehicle maintenance and electrical shops, and a 44-bay vehicle parking garage. To maintain a high-quality working environment for its employees, all areas except the garage are contained in one contiguous building shell with a centrally located state-of-the-art, 24-7 dispatch center and SCADA room. Open office concepts and departmental adjacencies shape the building configuration. Modular furniture systems add to the openness and promote a high-level of staff interaction, space flexibility and operational efficiency.
The buildings exclusively feature electrically powered building systems integrating energy-efficient and economical components. The offices and shops employ a geothermal ground-source heat pump system supported by 80 wells, 400-feet deep, and an energy-recovery system. The warehouse and vehicle maintenance areas use electric radiant heat, rooftop evaporative cooling and energy recovery systems. Daylighting is provided throughout all offices with generous perimeter windows with daylight shelves and a central second floor clerestory with automated daylight sensors for lighting and window shading control. The warehouse and shops are top-lit by rooftop solar light tubes that virtually eliminate daytime artificial lighting.